If you’re denying your emotions, you’re also denying your humanness. Even the spoiled little princess on the latest reality show gets a fair hearing on why she flipped a desk about getting the wrong-colored car (hint: it’s not about the car, but her emptiness). What’s important then is to examine why this is happening and how to react in the moment.
The truth is that actually battling depression is a messy task of digging deep and getting dirty. That’s why a lot of ignorant ministry workers use half-baked language to escape the gritty work of diving in the deep end. Almost no one naturally moves towards a depressed person because we think, “Well he’s rich, he’s good-looking, she’s got it together, why would she cut herself, why would he be on meds” — and that’s really a way of saying, “I’m too selfish to serve that person. I only serve people that are nice and clean and pure. I’m too lazy to understand.”
It was Jesus who stepped into the mess without qualifying anyone, and he calls us to do the same. He didn’t just tell us that our sin-broken condition is bad: he showed us a way out and a path forward towards him, to the greatest joy. If you can help someone make even a step in that journey, they will be grateful forever.
J.S. Park: Hospital Chaplain, Skeptical Christian 
It’s messy, hard work, but so worth the effort!
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